LI. 1. Osiris, again, on the other hand, they write

¥dth " eye '* and " sceptre," * the former of whic^ [they say] shows his providence, and the latter his power; just as Homer, when calling him who is ruler and king of all " Zeus supreme counsellor,"' seems by " supreme" to signify his supremacy, and by " counsellor " his good counsel and providenca
2. They frequently write this god with ''hawk"* as well ; for it excels in tension of sight and swiftness of flight, and can naturally support itself on the smallest quantity of food.
3. It is said, moreover, to hover over the bodies of the unburied dead and to cast earth upon them.* And when it drops down on the river to drink, it sets its wings upright, and after drinking it lowers them again, — by which it is evident it saves itself and escapes from the crocodile, for if it is caught its wings remain fixed as they were set^
> Cf. " bomid ass " above, xxx. a.
« Cf, X. 6.
» //., viii. 22 ; xvii. 339.
* Cy.l 2. Compare the Eagle of Zens. » More of the " Physiologus."
* "In the crocodile's gullet," comments King, "and to pre- vents him gulping down the bird." We are, however, iiw-ljiMw^
THE MTSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 331
4. And everywhere they exhibit a man-shaped image of Osiris, — ithyphallic, because of his generative and luxuriant [nature].
And they dress his statue in a flame-coloured robe, — since they consider the sun as body of the power of the Good, as it were a visible [sign] of an essence that mind only can conceive.
5. Wherefore also we should pay no attention to those who assign the sphere of the sun to Typhon,^ — to whom nothing light or salutary, neither order nor genesis, nor any motion that has measure and reason, belongs, but [rather] their contraries.
6. And we should not set down drought which destroys many of the animals and plants, as the sun's work, but [rather as that] of the breaths and waters in earth and air not being seasonably blended when the principle of disorderly and unbounded power makes discord and quenches the exhalations.
LIT. 1. And in the sacred hymns to Osiris, they in- voke him who is hidden in the Arms of the Sun ; ^ and on the thirteenth of the month of Epiphi ' they keep ¥dth feast the Birthday of the Eye of Horus, when moon and sun are in the same straight line ; as they think that not only the moon but also the sun is eye and light of Horus.
2. And on the eighth of the waning [half] of Paophi ^ they keep the Birthday of the Sun's Staff, after the autumnal equinox, — signifying that he needs an under- prop, as it were, and strengthening, deficient as he is
to tliink that Plutarch is a bit of a humonrist, and that there is no necessity for commenting seriously on his on diU.
1 C/. xli. 1 ; also § 9 below.
> That is the Son's Bays.
* Copt, Epep — corr. roughly with July.
* Oopt. Paopi— corr. rou^y with October.
332 THRICE-GRBATEST HERMES
in heat and light, declining and moving obliqnelj from U8.
3. Moreover, just after the winter solstice they carry the Cow round the shrine [seven times], and the circuit is called the Seeking for Osiris, as in winter the Gk>ddess longs for the ** water " of the Sun.
4 And she goes round this number of times, because he completes his passing from the winter to the summer solstice in the seventh month.
5. Moreover, Horus, son of Osiris, is said to have been the first of all to make offerings to the Sun on the fourth of the waxing moon, as is written in the [books] entitled Birthdays of Horus,
6. Though indeed every day they offer incense to the Sun in three kinds — resin at his rising, myrrh at mid-heaven, and what is called *" kuphi '* at his setting; the reason for each of which I will explain later on.^ And with all these they think to make the Sun pro- pitious to them and to do him service.
7. But what need is there to collect many such indications ? For there are those who say point-blank that Osiris \b Sun and is called Sirius by Greeks — though with Egyptians the addition of the article has caused the name to be mistaken ' — and who declare Isis to be no other than Moon ; whence also [they say] that tiie homed ones of her statues are representations of her crescent, while by the black-robed ones are signified the occulta- tions and overshadowings in which she follows Sun longing after him.
8. Accordingly they invoke Moon for affairs of love ; and Eudoxus ' says that Isis decides love-affairs.
» Cf, Ixxix., Ixxx.
' That Ib h v*ipi9s^tcipif — an absurd oontention, of ooune, though flattering to Greek vanity. ' Qf. YL, x., XXX., IxiL, Ixiv.
THE MYSTERIES OF ISIS AND OSIRIS 833
9. And these [explanations] have in a modified way some share of plausibility; whereas it is not wortii while even listening to those who make the Sun Typhon.
10. But let us ourselves again take up the proper reason (logos).
The Pbopxb Season according to Plutarch